DORICHA BRY ANTM, Lawr. 



Bryant^s Wood-Star. 



Borkha hryant(B, Lawr. Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 1867, vol. viii. p. 48.— Muls. Hist. Nat. 

 Ois.-Mouch. torn. iv. p. 42 (1877).— Boucard, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 70.— Elliot, 

 Synopsis, 1879, p. 125, 



A LITTLE group of Humming-birds is now restricted to three species, under the generic name of Doricha ; one 



of these has been described for 30 years, and was made known to tbe public by the drawing published in 



the 'Monograph ' in the year 1860. I trust that my new Plates will be as acceptable to the many lovers 



of these flying gems who have sprung up since that time, and seem to show quite as much zeal for the first 



sight of these novelties which are yearly brought before us. As I know but little about the habits and 



economy of these new discoveries, I am not likely to interest my readers if I appeal to them through the 



letterpress only; but I have always been more successful in conveying the form by a good drawing. How 



difficult would it be to describe the shape of this bird's tail, which a faithful drawing can produce in a moment! 



The most ornamei»tal of this little group is the D. lyrura ; and this species I had the pleasure of 



describing. The other, D. hri]ant(S, was described by Mr. Lawrence, of New York, who called it bryantcB 



after the wife of Dr. Bryant, who, 1 regret, is no more. Mr, Lawrence states that the present bird is a native 



of Costa Rica, and it was met with in that country by Mr. Boucard — at San Jose in March, and on the 



v(3lcano of Irazu in x4prih Every group has some peculiarity to separate it; and in the case of the three 



DorichcB we ought, I think, to regard the differences as only specific. /). lyrura has a most singular 



tail, which is a source of great beauty to the bird ; if the tail be closed, the outer feathers being the longest, 



a lyre-like form is produced — whilst in the tail of the present bird the second feather is lengthened, the first 



and third being of the same length and straight. The colouring of the crown is very plain ; and the luminous 



colour of the throat is flat and seems to want variety. A glance at the drawing will show these points more 



satisfactorily. 



" Of this beautiful genus," says Mr. Lawrence, " three other species only were previously known, found 

 severally in the Bahamas, Eastern Mexico, and Guatemala. The one now described is most like Z). evelyncs 

 from the Bahamas in the form of its bill and tail-feathers ; but the former is rather longer and the latter 

 much narrower in the new species ; it differs in the duller and darker green of the upper plumage, in the 

 throat being uniform in colour, not changeable, and with no approach to violet or purple; there is less 

 rufous below ; and the margins of the tail-feathers are pale and occupy half the web, while in emlyncB the 

 entire inner webs of the tail-feathers are bright cinnamon. 



"I have named this fine species in compliment to Mrs. Bryant, the widow of my friend, the late Dr. 

 Henry Bryant, of Boston. In the Proceedings of the Soc. of Nat. Hist, for 1857, Dr. Bryant gave an 

 interesting account of D, emlyncB, a beautiful ally of the above species, several specimens of which he 

 obtained at the Bahamas in that year; Mr. Gould states that these were the first procured since the 

 discovery of the type thirty years ])reviously. Mr. Boucard states that D, bryantcs is very rare in Costa 

 Rica. It appears so soon as it is daylight, and is very quick. It never rests long in one place; when on 

 the wing it makes a great noise, similar to that of a large Coleopteron (Scarabeidse) when flying." 



Description. Male — entire upper plumage of a rather dull grass-green ; tail brownish black, tinged with 

 purple, the feathers (except the central ones) having their inner webs broadly margined with dull pale rufous ; 

 chin and throat bright crimson, below which is a broad belt of greyish white; breast and sides dull green, 

 intermixed with ashy ; lower part of abdomen bright rufous, thighs brown, crissum light rufous, the 

 feathers with dull green centres; wings dark brownish purple; bill black ; "iris dark brown;" feet dark 



brown. 



The colouring of the female is given by Mr. Elliot: — *' Above dull dark green, sides of the neck and 

 npper parts of flanks dark green, throat and breast pale buff, abdomen and crissum rufous; middle tail- 

 feathers dark i^reen, next rufous at base with the terminal pale purplish black band across the central 



portion." 



Total length 3* hiches, wing If, tail 1, cuhnen |. 



